bluGill

I find it weird that every part time jobs tries to play off flexible scheduling as a perk. Their schedule isn’t flexible, they decide what shifts they want me to work. It might be better than factory work where you always work exactly the same shift or you must take vacation (or sick leave but they demand a doctor’s note) - but you can plan around that well in advance. Meanwhile every full time job I’ve had wasn’t factory work and so the expectation was "work any 8 hours per day, make sure you show up for the important meetings)

Lifetime for security. Other features (new drivers…) you can pay for, but security is lifetime. You need to escrow enough money to provide this service or prove that nobody is using the OS.

All services required for use of the device are also lifetime - though they may charge a subscription price so long as that price is clear to the customer before the first sale and prices go up by inflation only. After 15 years they can drop the service if it is easy for a “normal user” to switch to a different subscription provider; and all source code required for someone “skilled in the art” to create and maintain their own service provider is publicly released under terms that allow modification and redistribution was released at least 5 years before killing their own service.

You are allowed to drop support for any protocol that is not latest recommended state of the art so long as you maintain what was recommended at time of release. If a newer protocol comes out you need not support it. (Which is to say you can be IPv6 only today, and if the internet switches to IPv12 in the future you don’t have to support that)

The above applies to anything network connected. OS, web browser, Security camera, thermostat…

Compared to walking or riding a horse they are freedom. They cost a lot, but also enable a lot.

i wish we had transit here, but that doesn’t mean cars are not freedom. Even in europe most people drive.

my phev is a minivan which I bought used for 25k. The only ev minivan in the us is 60k (just came out so used not available. Those are the real numbers, the engine prices you quote are irrelavent as I’m not buying an engine I’m buying a camplete vehicle.

nothing to do with the slate, the conversation has drifted. The slate is not available at anyprice today, though it looks like an interesting option in the future.

I have a todo list that will keep me busy for then next 3000 years, and that is before rebuilding the transmission on my 1999 is added to the list. (note that I assume the medical advances needed for me to live 3000 years are on someone else’s list as I have no clue…) Eventually I have to give up on something so I can do something else.

As an owner of one (PHEV) I’m saving nearly $200/month in fuel. That is much more bigger than maintenance. I hope this lasts as long as the last one but the transmission isn’t known to be good (the “better” transmission on the last one was failing) Only time will tell, but so long as I need to drive I the question is how much I spend in a lifetime and electric has proven it to me.

I oppose NIMBY no matter who is there. I only restrict polution if it would leave your property. Freedom only works if is for everyone including those doing things you don’t like.

That is an important point - prices are all over as is service. If they reprint failed prints at ‘no charge’ that is worth a lot as well

Do you need one? There is a 3d printing service near me that has better printers than I could afford that is happy to print for me. For many the cost of a service is less than printer for as little as they really print so something to think about. Check your options. If 3d printing isn’t the hobby but a means this might be your better option. Don’t forget that once you agree to outsource creating parts you get access to wood, metals, and additional plastics. You also get many more processes (injection molding, lathe, milling machines, SLA/Resin printers) which lets give you many more options. And you get access to machines that wouldn’t even fit in your garage.

I’m not saying don’t get a 3d printer. For some it is the right decision. I’m saying don’t overlook the other options. Even if you get a 3d printer you should use the other services instead of making everything a nail just because you have a hammer.

Not really - keyboards need to be much farther from the screen than that. Laptops are terrible for the same reason. Maybe your body can accept that bad ergonomics, but mine cannot. which is why I carry a separate keyboard for my laptop and phone. (plus mechanical keyboards are much better anyway)

Parts fail all the time. The problem with hardware raid is you need a compatible controller or none of the data can be read even though it is still on the physical disks. Computer hardware is often only made for a few months before there is a new model and so you are risking that the manufacture really made the new model work with what you have. That is assuming the manufacture doesn’t go out of business which could happen without warning. \

Also, if hardware breaks that is often a good excuse to replace it - odds are better hardware is available for the same price and sometimes a lot less $ - with hardware raid you are stuck paying whatever price they charge.

Either works fine for most homes. for most homes everything on the nas makes sense as that saves energy vs a second always on box. For enterprises you want them separate because you can’t get cpu’s powerful enough.

You don’t have to be very good at a language to know when a translation is horrible. I’m not very good at spanish and I can do better than machine translations.

The average car is 12 years old. Car makers start to drop support (making/stocking parts) when the car is about 10 years old. Come back and talk to me about that car when is is 25 years old and tell me how it is. I have a 26 year old truck, the bed has holes, the frame is showing signs of rot - I’m trying to decide if it is worth trying to rebuild the transmission, my mechanic isn’t intersted in part because they are not sure if they can find the parts - they will be more than $1000 in labor in before they know wihch bearing it has and thus can check if it can be had.

Most suburbs a store is not that far. you will often drive more than that for a store you like but something is closer.

american suburb covers a lot of variation. If you have a horse as some of the least dense support that is different from ones where you get a postage stamp lot. Streetcar suburbs designed before cars are ess dense than the new developments they are putting is around me today.

And people were concerned. My grandpa only had initials published not his full name because he knew some widows [when my mom was a baby] afraid of crime who only published their initials and wanted to make things harder for those criminals who targeted on widows.

They won’t be buying new cars in the near future, but their cars will be wearing out and spare parts for old cars always become hard to find. Either they will be spending a large part of their time maintaining the car, including making parts from scratch, or they will forced to buy a new car anyway.

The car is more valuable than the crap.

Only if you spend way too much money on a depreciating asset that won’t be that valuable for long. For that matter storing inside or outside makes zero difference to the value. The stuff in my garage is more valuable than my car (my car is 26 years old so this is a much lower bar than most people), is more sensitive to weather than my cars, and I enjoy it more than cars.

I don’t get this obsession people have with depreciating assets like cars. They brag about how great they are, take good care of it, and then 3 years latter trade in that piece of junk…

Besides, the worst weather for cars is bright sun, and most cars are parked outside in a parking lot (at work) when it is sunny, and only put in the garage when it is dark.

The work isn’t hard - I did it myself (I checked my spare parts box and discovered the only thing I was missing was the cover for the outlet, so it cost me $3). However if you don’t know what you are doing around electric I can’t train you on the internet. While you can find good instructions via a simple search you can also find instructions that are dangerous and if you don’t know what you are doing you won’t know the difference.

Most suburbs have plenty of density to support transit as proved in other countries that provide good transit to their areas of similar density. However most suburbs have such bad transit you can’t use it for anything and to people start believing the idea that it is impossible to get them good transit and so they won’t agree to get it.